Fritz Lang

If I graded on technical merit alone, M would warrant five stars. Director Fritz Lang’s formal mastery belies his experience. This was his first sound picture, yet he’s already innovating, delivering possibly the first instance of cross-cutting dialogue in cinema.

Spencer Tracy plays a filling station owner driving west from Chicago to reunite with his fiancée, played by top-billed Sylvia Sydney. He camps overnight outside a small town. The next morning, a deputy stops him on the road. The deputy—played by Walter Brennan in a chilling performance—spies salted peanuts and hauls Tracy in for questioning. Questioning leads to detention. Soon, the town’s convinced Tracy is part of a recent child kidnapping. The citizens riot and burn the jail with Tracy trapped inside.

Anne Baxter plays Norah Larkin, a Los Angeles telephone operator who wakes up after a drunken night to discover she killed a man in self-defense, but can’t prove it.